River Information Services: Commission sends
reasoned opinions to four Member States

The European Commission has today decided to send
reasoned opinions to Belgium, the Czech Republic, Poland and the Slovak Republic
for failure to transpose into national law the European rules for setting up
harmonised river information services on inland waterways. Sending a reasoned
opinion is the last step before possibly taking a matter to the Court of
Justice.

The aim of the Directive in
question[1] is to establish a
common framework for river information services (RIS) in order to increase the
safety, reliability and efficiency of inland waterway transport. RIS can thus
improve the competitiveness of this cheap, economical and environmentally
friendly transport mode.

The Directive defines the principles and requirements for data communication
and RIS equipment as well as the minimum level of RIS services. It provides the
outline for technical guidelines and specifications for notices to skippers,
electronic chart display and information systems, vessel tracking and tracing
systems and electronic ship reporting.

The Directive should have been fully transposed into national law by 20
October 2007.

[1] Directive 2005/44/EC of
the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on harmonised
river information services (RIS) on inland waterways in the Community (OJ L 255,
30.9.2005, p. 152)